Here is a sermon i heard right before Christmas at my church here: OMPC.org you can read the transcript in it's entirety and listen to it as well. All quotes from Bob Flayhart. What powerful truth this is: the name of the sermon? "it's a wonderful life" as in that movie :) Many are disillusioned with the Christian life- well this says it so well. The catch to experiencing it is abiding/appropriating whatever you wanna call it. Enjoy !

do yourself a huge favor and listen to this sermon a few times.it's incredible!it talks about appropriating what is ours in Christ:

“How do we experience the wonderful life? In the midst of our confusion, in the midst of our suffering, in the midst of our trials, how do we experience the wonderful life? And the answer is very simple—three words—three words that I want ringing in your ears: “experience through appropriation”. Remember it, and write it down. “Experience through appropriation”. What is appropriation? To appropriate something means to lay claim to it. It means to personally cause it to come to you. For instance, we—most of us—have bank accounts. If we were to drive down to the bank, and we brought our checkbook and wrote out a check to cash, and we asked for the money, that would be appropriating our money. There is a storehouse of money in the bank, some of which is actually ours. We can lay claim to it. We can withdraw it whenever we need it, whenever we want it. Now, how silly would it be as the teller handed me the cash and I held it in my hands, and I said, “Please, give me my cash.” She’d look at me like I was losing it! She’d say, “What do you mean? You have your cash in your hand.” And I say, “Well, I don’t feel it.” Or I close my eyes, and say, “I don’t see it. I can’t hear it.” Would I be appropriating my money? No, at that point, I would not be. Appropriation means that you lay claim and take what is actually promised you, and you live out of that reality. That is how we experience the wonderful life. With a believing heart, through believing prayer, we approach the spiritual bank whose name is Christ, Who purchased for us, by His life, through His death, and in His resurrection, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. If you are a Christian, every blessing Christ has purchased for you is already yours, but it will never be real in your experience unless you personally, by faith, with a believing heart, appropriate it, and claim it to be yours, and believe that as you ask for withdrawals, Jesus always will grant what He has purchased for you.Three elements of the wonderful life of Christ that we are to appropriate so that we can truly say, not just during Christmas, but every time of the year, no matter what kind of circumstances we’re facing, it truly is a wonderful life.First of all, Experience the Wonderful Life by Appropriating the Child’s Love.

...The love of God is constantly bestowing gifts. Look at the gifts—look at verse 3—a light has shined, joy is increased. Undeserved blessings are being showered out upon us because of what Christ has done. But guess what? You and I will never experience the reality of what is actually happening, unless we appropriate that mercy and grace. You will continue to live in self-condemnation, in debilitating guilt, in self-contempt, unless you begin to appropriate with a believing heart, the mercy and love that is actually yours in the gospel. You can be a Christian, saved from eternal damnation, and not be experiencing the reality of the mercy and grace of God. Why? You are living in unbelief, and you are failing to appropriate the mercy and grace that is, in fact, yours...

..We have a God Who does wonders. We have a God who desires to do wonders in our lives, but that power and those wonders are experienced by appropriating. We tap into the power of Christ by faith. Now, you can call this whatever you want. You can call it abiding in Christ. You can call it the Spirit-filled life. You can call it running to the cross. You can call it looking to Jesus. I don’t care about the vocabulary, but you and I don’t tap into the power of God automatically. The power of God is there. It is like a plug, but we tap into the energy, and we do that by faith. We do that by personally trusting the promises of God, by personally appropriating the resources that Christ says are in fact ours. So what things are you facing this Advent that are the Midianites in your life? Where are you facing enemies where you are 450 to 1 ratio? What is in your life right now that is God-sized—way beyond human capability? They have been brought into your life that you might experience the wonder of the power of Christ. The scriptures are filled with God’s power delivering His people rather than their own competency delivering themselves. One of the most ironic elements of “The Chronicles of Narnia” movie—the day before we all saw it, Michael, my youngest son, and I were talking about Joshua chapter 10. There is another battle there; it is the battle with the Amorites. Michael had asked me if I remembered where the story was where God caused stones to fall from heaven, so that more of the enemy were killed by the falling stones than were killed by the swords of the Israelites. And I said, “Yeah, that’s in Joshua 10. That’s the battle of the Amorites.” We talked about how isn’t that so like God to want us to trust Him and His power to do things for us that He doesn’t intend for us to do for ourselves. Well, we get to the movie, and in the great battle scene where Peter and his armies of Narnia are going against the White Witch, and her hoards, great, big, gigantic birds are flying over the battlefield, and in their talons, they have great big rocks, and at Peter’s command, they are let loose and unleashed on the enemy. These rocks are causing the demonic beings to just be slaughtered. I thought, “What a picture in the world of imagination, of A) what happened in Joshua chapter 10, but B), what happens in our lives every day, as we appropriate the power of the gospel.” We may not see winged birds, but if we had spiritual eyes, could we see winged angels, dropping stones on all of our enemies, so that God is clearing a path upon which our feet can walk. Do you feel powerless? Then it is probably that you are not experiencing the wonderful life by appropriating the resources of Christ. We abide in Christ by faith. We are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit by faith, with a believing heart, we go to the treasure source of Christ, and we claim the power that is already ours, and whether we feel it, whether we see it, whether we smell it, whether we hear it, does not matter. We believe that we have been given what we have appropriated, and we move on, confident of the power of God in our lives. Experience through appropriation...

Look at verse 3. “As the farmer rejoices at the harvest”—now again, most of us are not farmers, so we have a hard time understanding the wonder of this passage. How does a farmer rejoice at the harvest? “Wow! No more fear of storms! Wow! No more fear of drought! Wow! No more fear of animals killing my crop! Wow! It’s done! The crop is in the barn! We are safe! Imagine the joy of the farmer, rejoicing at harvest, and in the midst of our darkness, in the midst of our gloom, in the midst of our struggles, we are supposed to believe and appropriate the victory that has already been won for us by Christ. Look at the second part of verse 3. “As the soldier rejoices in dividing the spoil”, what does that mean? The victory has been won, the battle is over, the enemy is defeated, and they are in retreat. When I feel incredibly attacked by the Devil, I’m to appropriate Christ’s victory over Satan on the cross. Whether I feel it, whether I smell it, whether I hear it, whether I taste it, whether I touch it, it doesn’t matter. I’m to appropriate it, as an act of faith.Look at verse 7. “Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end.” We are to continually believe that as we appropriate the wondrous work of Christ, his work in us will continue, and increase, but not only in us—in this world, the gospel and the Kingdom will continue to expand and spread and bring forth fruit. If you are a Christian, the victory is already yours. But are you appropriating that victory by faith? ...

A classic illustration—The Promised Land. Why is it called that? Because it was land that God promised Israel. It was theirs. God gave it to them. It was assuredly guaranteed, but what did they have to do? They had to appropriate it. They had to enter the land physically, trusting in God, they had to fight the battles, though God fought most of the battles for them, and they had to claim that which was already promised. That is exactly the Christian life. We have been promised all kinds of mercies, graces, powers, and victories. The gospel is our promised land.

The wondrous Child is our promised land, and in Him are all the resources and riches that we could ever want or desire, but they must be appropriated to be experienced...

Can I just say that Jesus blessed me this Christmas... I had a great time with my family. I didn't have to work on Christmas. I got to see old friends. It was great!

What did He do in my heart?

Well, as Always I have found that He is calling me to trust Him without question, to walk by faith not by sight, even when the world is screaming the opposite. I have to stand on the word that He is faithful:Psalm 121... I look to the hills- where does my help come from? It comes from the Lord! the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand;the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life;the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

I take this word as truth and as a promise to me! This is my Lord, my precious Lord who continues to amaze me in how He romances me...

He used this Christmas to put me in awe of the fact that HE is REAL!He produced in my heart a quiet confidence and realization of how necessary it was that He would come to earth. It's not a fairy tale. It's not to give us a reason to have a holiday. It's for His glory and to demonstrate His love for us!

He could have stayed and left us to our own choices. He could have removed himself and not finished the work of the cross. Oh the wonder of a newborn baby, fully God and fully man!

A scripture came alive to me when a few of my friends came over and we practiced to lead our sunday school class in worship for the Christmas party. We decided to read scripture throughout the set and one line just hit me hard:

1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east[b] and have come to worship him." ...

9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east[e] went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, andthey bowed down and worshiped him.

Can you imagine the anticipation the Magi had going to seek out this king?? Can you imagine what it was like to know you are about to encounter God in the flesh? Are you overjoyed at the "stars" all around us/ signs that Jesus is there/fruit of Him living His life in and through you and others?

What if you were there at this scene. What release it would be to throw down that frankinsense and fall on your face and worship him! God himself! Here on earth: Wow!!

He is real. He is a person. And He is JUST AS REAL TODAY as His birth was 2000 years ago.I am floored. If that birth is real... if those few chapters in the Bible describing it are real, then what about the rest of the story!

Dont you see? There is purpose in Jesus. He came for a purpose, He IS my purpose.There is love displayed in Jesus. He came to love. He IS love.There is GLORY in Jesus. He came to bring Glory to Father. He is glory!

And this powerful One lives in you and me by faith! He is just as real as that precious baby! Breath of heaven. I can't help but love Him.